Letters-Plus

BY STEVE HERMAN

I am speaking here in my personal capacity and not as a representative of any agency or organization, past, present or future …

My colleagues and our broadcasts—devoted to telling America’s story to the world, honestly, fairly, and with an unwavering commitment to the truth—are being silenced this weekend. The de facto destruction of the Voice of America (VOA) is nothing less than a betrayal of the ideals that gave birth to the institution and made it relevant throughout World War II, the Cold War, and in the decades after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

VOA has been a trusted presence—not just because of what was said, but how it was said. With facts. With fairness and with balance, no matter which political party was in power.

I had the honor of serving on the front lines in dozens of countries—reporting on TV, radio, and the Web—from conflict zones, covering historic summits, and in more recent years navigating the complexities of global diplomacy as VOA’s White House bureau chief and then its chief national correspondent.

I was in Fukushima, as radioactive fallout descended, immediately after the quake and tsunami that caused a nuclear disaster, delivering timely, accurate information when panic and misinformation threatened public safety.

I boarded military helicopters to reach the worst-affected communities destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, to bear witness to unimaginable devastation, while giving voice to those who had lost everything.

Whether it was filing stories from war zones or pressing presidents and other leaders in palaces for answers on major geopolitical issues, I always understood that my duty was not to power, but to VOA’s stakeholders and our global audiences, especially in countries without a free or developed press.

Many of our colleagues risked their lives to get the story right—journalists whose voices were sometimes the only source of truth in their native languages. I’ve met many in our audience who told me VOA gave them their first taste of freedom, led to their decisions to defect from authoritarian lands, or that they now speak our language because of VOA’s Learning English broadcasts.

Destroying VOA (along with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia) is a national security issue. These entities, funded by the American people, have been among the most effective instruments of American soft power—a bridge to those who may never set foot on our soil, but understand our values because they heard them in one of the dozens of languages in which we broadcast.

To eliminate these institutions is to turn our backs on those around the world who have counted on us. It is to surrender a unique platform that no other country can replicate. It was never just about America’s voice—it was about America’s integrity. There will be celebrations in the autocratic halls of power this weekend in Moscow, Minsk, Beijing, Pyongyang, and Tehran. They will cheer the totally ridiculous excuses that it was necessary to burn down the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) because its broadcast outlets have become riddled with spies, and its journalists have colluded with “radical Leftist advocacy organizations” and created “false narratives.”

Such canards were hurled at VOA during the 1950s red-baiting and, again, under a previous short-lived USAGM politically appointed leadership. Historians and outside unbiased investigators concluded such charges were unfounded then, and they are likely without merit now. It would not be surprising to see legal challenges against such defamations in the weeks and months ahead. Any hope of ultimately saving VOA and the other USAGM broadcasters might rest with the judiciary.

All at VOA, who swore an oath to the Constitution, strove daily to live up to our charter: to be accurate, objective, and comprehensive. That promise, more than any broadcast or byline, is a legacy worth protecting.

To effectively shutter the Voice of America is to dim a beacon that burned bright during some of the darkest hours since 1942.

Veritatem dilexi.